BEIJING (SCMP): An online influencer in China with 42,000 followers has scammed 560,000 yuan (US$76,000) out of a lonely elderly woman by making up moving stories and pretending to be her son.
A Shanghai woman in her 70s, surnamed Tang, was unmarried and childless. In 2022, her niece found she had been constantly transferring money to a stranger.
The man from northwestern China’s Shaanxi province claimed to be dedicated to resolving people’s problems, helping peasants sell slow-selling products and helping lost people find their homes.
Tang’s niece, surnamed Jiang, said she was attracted to the man’s “kindness”.
She initially sent small gifts in his live-streams in 2021, and was later tricked to buy illegitimate health products.
The man, who used the handle @lixuan and is now banned on the platform, then added Tang’s personal contact, and began calling her “mum”.
He greeted her every day like a real son, and before long began borrowing money from her.
The excuses he used included him being diagnosed with early-stage stomach cancer, his girlfriend needing abortion, and his father being seriously ill.
Tang fell for them all, and even borrowed money herself to send to her “son”.
She threatened to “jump off the building” when her relatives from whom she borrowed money suggested that she call the police.
Tang got suspicious when the man greeted her less frequently. He first drove more than 1,000 km to visit her, and made videos of them together using music that praises mother’s love, then he asked her to stop contacting him because “you don’t trust me”.
Tang finally went to the police at the end of 2023.
Investigators found the cunning man used four accounts to chat with her, each registered with a different identity.
But they successfully tracked him down because Tang, deeply moved by his visit in person, took a photo of his car registration plate.
Police in Shanghai arrested Mao, and prosecutors charged him with scamming a total of 560,000 yuan out of the elderly woman over a two-year period.
Mao was sentenced to 10 and half years in prison and fined 100,000 yuan (US$14,000).
The judge, Yu Huohai, said they gave him a heavier punishment because he cheated an elderly person.
Tang lived alone with only a 4,000-yuan (US$550) monthly pension. She owed over 70,000 yuan (US$9,500) because of Mao and needed to repay 3,000 yuan a month, China Central Television reported.
Tang rejected the court’s offer to help her apply for judicial assistance.
Her niece said she lost 10kg in six months feeling ashamed of being scammed by her “son”.
The number of internet users in China reached 1.1 billion as of June last year, up by 7.42 million from the end of 2023. Among them, 20.8 per cent were people aged 60 and older.
Judge Yu said the case was a warning to elderly internet users as well as young people who had not paid attention to their parents’ emotional needs.
It was reported that many key opinion leaders (KOLs) invented fake stories to swindle money from lonely elderly people.
“My parents also believed in this kind of fake stories and bought home fake products. I told her many times they were fake but she would not believe me,” said one online observer.
Another said: “The platforms should enhance supervision of their KOLs, and we should pay more attention to our parents’ mental health.” - SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
